The Poipet town administration in Banteay Meanchey province has notified market stall owners, vendors and people who are doing business on public pavements to stop selling and displaying goods and dismantle all constructions encroaching on the pavements.

In a notice on June 23, it said the authorities had observed that some market stall owners and vendors have been doing business and selling goods on public pavements and that these activities were detrimental to public order and the beauty of downtown.

Thus, in order to maintain public order and avoid traffic jams on the roads, the administration requires everyone to stop selling goods on public pavements.

Market owners have to stop allowing vendors selling vegetables, fruits, fish and meats to set up outside of their market compounds and to prepare facilities for them to use in an orderly and hygienic manner, the notice said.

At the same time, anyone doing business on public pavements have to pull down their stalls and verandas built on the pavements and dispose of them properly while cooperating with local authorities to maintain order, the notice added.

“All market owners, vendors and those doing business on the pavements have 14 days from June 24 to July 7 to comply.

“When the deadline comes, the town hall will take administrative measures and will not be held responsible for any damages or losses,” it warned.

Poipet town governor Keat Hul said on June 23 that in general, people in town had built verandas on public pavements around some markets for selling goods, thereby leading to traffic jams and detrimentally impacting the town’s beauty.

“Our town hall has notified them to withdraw from [public] pavements, pull down canvas awnings built over public pavements, maintain the town’s beauty and environmental sanitation and avoid causing traffic jams,” he said.

Hul said the authorities wanted to avoid difficulties when the town is developed further and the roads are widened in the future.

Sum Chankea, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, supported the notice, saying the country needs to take these steps to further its development. But he requested that authorities enforce the law carefully in order to avoid any serious impacts on people’s rights.

“The country needs to have clean cities with wide roads and good infrastructure so that things do not become anarchic and disorderly. But authorities have to look at situations where people have been using a location for years now. What policy do authorities have for making reparations to them?” he said.